


Novels and Nose Piercings

by potatomustaches



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF
Genre: Librarian AU, Light Dom/sub, Light Masochism, M/M, Mild Smut, Piercings, Tattoos, i have never written smut before and i just dont think i can, i sorry tana i hope you like it anyways, i tried my best but i dont think i could go all the way ya know, librarian shane x ryan, shyan, shyan nye exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28451754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potatomustaches/pseuds/potatomustaches
Summary: The one where Ryan goes to the library and asks the cute librarian for book recommendations and the librarian seems to have a very specific taste in books. Shane is trying to subtly hint to the library newcomer through his recommendations.(Basically, reader nerd Steven, tatted and pierced Shane, and toogayforthisshit Ryan)
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 7
Kudos: 46
Collections: Shyan Shipping Society - NYE Exchange





	Novels and Nose Piercings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tanabubbles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanabubbles/gifts).



> 9 December 2020 - 31 December 2020
> 
> This was written in conjunction with the Shyan Shipping Society New Years Eve Gift Exchange for @tanabubbles. I hope you like it.
> 
> This is also completely self-indulgent seeing as I'm studying to be a librarian and am obsessed with YA books. Watch me try to subtly geek out over my favorite series and let me know if you can figure out all the books I referred to throughout the fic.
> 
> This piece has not been heavily edited, so I apologize for any mistakes.

Ryan isn’t the biggest fan of reading. Well, fictional works. He’d rather spend his time researching and finding small, minute details and connecting them almost impossibly to something that might be unrelated, but stories told without and nuance or guesswork? Boring.

“I’m not coming in,” Ryan pointed out when Steven turned the car off. “It’s gonna get cold out here so leave it on.”

“I need your help carrying.”

Ryan looks into the backseat and grabs a bag. “Put them in here.”

Steven glares at him. “Stop being a pissbaby and come in with me. You’re gonna be sitting out here for at least an hour.”

“I thought you said you just needed to get one book!”

Steven just smiles at him sheepishly for an uncomfortable amount of time until Ryan kicks his feet into the dashboard a few times and then opens the passenger door. Steven’s smile becomes genuine.

“It shouldn’t take too long to find. I come here all the time. You can chill around in nonfiction or thriller or whatever you want while I look for it.” Steven explains as they walk to the sliding library doors. A woman is helping a young boy at one of the machines for self-checkout and a few other attendants are stocking books back on the shelves. Steven immediately swerved to the side and goes into the “New Releases” section, leaving Ryan at the entrance.

He looks around the room. The library is much bigger than it looks from the outside, and the books are neatly organized by sections, and there’s an entire section just for children. He sighs and starts walking toward the Mystery/Thriller section, even though he doesn’t imagine he can find any book spookier than the cases he looks up online.

After looking through the section and seeing an overabundance of black, red, and spooky book covers and cheesy thriller titles, he trails into the next section, which seems to be science fiction. He pulls a book off the shelf, scans the back cover, only to replace it back on the shelf. He continues this process for about ten minutes before growing bored and going to find Steven, who has trailed into the adult section. He’s holding a stack of five books already.

When Steven catches Ryan looking at him, he just smiles slightly and motions to the similar spines of the books. Ryan assumes they’re in a series. Steven goes back to looking at the books on the shelf, reaching out and pulling another off and adding it to his stack.

Ryan turns around and goes back to the front, waiting near one of the machines. After loitering around for a minute, a tall man approaches him and asks, “Can I help you with anything?”

Ryan has to look up to meet his eyes, and he’s immediately taken aback by the shimmer of silver coming from the man’s nose and ears. The man has his ears pierced as well as an industrial bar and a silver hoop through his left nostril. The industrial is black with a silver design in the middle and on the ends, and the earrings have a slightly blue tint.

Ryan realizes he has been staring for far too long and says, “I’m just here with my friend. I think he’s gonna check out an entire shelf though so be careful.” Ryan motions back to where Steven is standing. Ryan continues staring at the nose piercing as the man glances over his head and smiles, lifting his arm in a wave. Then he cringes and Ryan can hear the sound of several books falling to the floor. He turns back around and sees Steven kneeling down to the floor to pick up the books he must’ve dropped.

Ryan shakes his head and walks back to his friend, and Steven immediately says, “This is why I needed you to come in.” After collecting all the books in his arms, and then holding them out to Ryan to take, he looks up. “Hey, Shane.”

“How’ve you been, Steven? I see you finally got onto that series I told you about.”

Steven nods, “Yeah, the first book was so good! I can’t believe you have the entire series just here and I don’t even have to wait for it.”

“I put special holds on them just for you.”

“Really?”

Shane laughs, “No. I wish such a thing existed.”

“You don’t get any special librarian perks?”

“Nah.”

“Shame. If you did I would definitely become a librarian.”

Shane just shakes his head and motions down to Ryan, who is busy trying to steady the books on one thigh so he can check his watch.

“Oh! Yeah! This is Ryan, my boring roommate.”

Ryan scowls at him for a moment before turning back to the tall librarian.

“And this is Shane. He’s worked here for years.”

Shane turns to Ryan and flashes a smile and the way his eyes crinkle makes his nose scrunch slightly which makes the piercing flash and Ryan nearly loses his footing.

He’s never been so attracted to a nose.

“What kinds of books do you like?” Shane asks, and Ryan to too busy trying to not look like a wonderstruck idiot that he doesn’t even register what’s being said.

“Yes.” He responds, and Steven hunches over with laughter.

“Good answer!” Shane laughs too.

Ryan picks up the books again and lowers his leg, looking between the two of them. “What?”

Steven shakes his head, trying to ward off the giggles. “Ryan here doesn’t like to read because he’s a boring asshole--”

“Hey! I read plenty! Just not…” he glances down at one of the covers, “... whatever this is.”

Steven rolls his eyes, “He only likes spooky shit, like ghosts and ghouls and demons and murder cases and whatever else makes him sprint up the stairs of our apartment every single time.”

“Well,” Shane looks around him for a moment before pulling a random book off the shelf a moment later, “maybe this would suit you. No ghosts or ghouls, sorry, but it’s based after a real-life murder case that might interest you.”

Shane places a book on the stack with the title facing Ryan. He glanced over it in the horror section earlier, but the cheesy title made him roll his eyes.

“What case?” He mutters as he tries to read the small quote beneath the title.

“Sylvia Likens. It’s pretty gruesome, but who knows what you’re into.”

Ryan bites his lip and hyperfixates on the words on the cover before looking back up at Shane. “I’ll check it out, but I don’t have a library card.”

“I’m sure Steven will let you borrow his. As long as he doesn’t have seventy other books stashed away at home that he has yet to return.” Shane sends Steven a pointed look.

Steven stutters a moment before deflecting, “Well, if Ryan’s interested, maybe he should get a card. Maybe he’ll start coming with me more often then.”

“Then let’s go set that up, and while I’m at it, I’ll check your overdue balance.”

Steven smiles sheepishly, “Aww, you don’t have to do that.”

Shane chuckles and rolls his eyes, “Consider it a favor, hm?”

Then Shane picks up the stack and hands it back to Steven, who is blubbering over his words again, and motions for Ryan to follow him. Ryan notices he grabbed the book he recommended off the top and places it on the counter while he starts typing on a computer behind a standing desk.

As Shane starts running through basic questions and Ryan robotically, he continues staring at the different pieces of jewelry sticking out of Shane’s skin. The final few questions are run through and then Shane breaks off a new plastic library card from a collection of other plastic and then hands it to Ryan. When Ryan takes it, he motions to his ears, “I got these done when I was sixteen during a fit of rebellion, and then when I turned twenty-one I got my industrial.”

Ryan looks at Shane’s ears, and then back at his nose. “What about that one?”

“Got it when I was twenty-seven after trying out a few different things in between.” Ryan continues staring at Shane’s nose. “I’m getting a new one in a few weeks.”

“Where?”

Shane just smiles and motions for Ryan to turn his card over. He scans it and then picks up the book and scans it as well. “This’ll be due back in three weeks. Right after my appointment, so maybe you’ll be able to see it.”

Ryan looks down at the book Shane placed in his hands, as well as the card, and then back up at him. “Yeah. I. I-uh, I’m looking forward to it.”

Shane nods his head and smiles, motioning to Steven who is at one of the self-checkout machines. “Me too. See you in a few weeks, Ryan.”

_-_-_

Ryan couldn’t wait a few weeks. That night, he went back to their apartment and locked himself in his room, and read the entire book in three days. It was brutal and disgusting and nauseating and he cringed so many times while reading it, but as soon as he finished it he looked up the girl it was based on and cringed even more. Sometimes he wishes works of fiction were just that.

After finishing the book, he waited a full day before approaching Steven, saying, “Do you have any books you need me to return to the library?”

Steven looks up from where he’s typing something on his computer. “Probably. Why?”

Ryan looks down at the ground, “I finished my book and I was gonna return it, might as well do it all in one go, right?”

Steven crinkles his eyebrows before shrugging and standing up, walking into his room. Ten minutes later, he turns with a stack of eleven books and places them on the table.

Ryan stares at it for a moment. “Really?”

“What?” He sits back down at his computer and continues typing. “Say hi to Shane for me.”

Ryan stutters over his words as he gathers the books into his arms, and Steven laughs at him until he walks out the door.

He arrives at the library within a few minutes and takes a few deep breaths after parking. He’s just now realized how stupid this idea probably is, considering sexy library man Shane probably doesn’t work every single day and he shouldn’t be expecting to see him there. He doesn’t know how libraries work. On the day they came, Shane was on the floor, but today he could be in the back accepting returns or restocking shelves or doing literally anything else other than waiting around for people to come to him for help. It is a job after all. He’s expected to do shit.

Ryan looks over at the stack of books he had to buckle into the seat, even though a few still slid onto the floor when he took a turn too fast. Among them, there is only one book that belongs to him. Is he even allowed to return books that didn’t come out of his account? How the fuck do libraries work?

If Shane isn’t there, maybe the other library staff will assume he stole the books and will arrest him and send him to jail.

He contemplates if they would arrest him for returning books that already belong to them. He contemplates even more as to why his mind is being an asshole today. Just walk up, drop the books in the box, and then leave.

But if he does that, and there’s a chance Shane is here, he’ll have missed his opportunity to see him again.

Ryan groans and throws his head back into the seat. This is stupid. He shouldn’t be attracted to sexy library man Shane. Regardless of how much he wants to study his piercings with more than just his eyes.

Shane works at a library. Ryan has never liked libraries. Shane has piercings and is getting more. Ryan has never found piercings attractive. Shane dresses like a cross between a hipster and a college professor. Ryan loathes hipsters and loathes college even more.

Shane is the sexy library man who has an interest in books and was able to recommend Ryan a book he actually enjoyed after only talking to him for a few minutes. Ryan hasn’t found a book he’s enjoyed in literally years.

Ryan unbuckles the seatbelt holding the books in place, picks them up one by one, and creates a precarious stack in his arms. The stack goes over his head even if he lowers his hands to his thighs. Damn Steven.

Just find the box. Find the box and drop the books in it. Then leave.

But after swerving around the outside of the library for a few minutes in search of the return box, nearly dropping the entire stack multiple times in the process, he’s still unable to find it.

“The fuck.” He mumbles to himself as he takes a little turn and resting the book against the side of his face so he can look more comfortable. “Where is it.”

He spends two more minutes aimlessly walking around the entire library before sighing in defeat and heading inside. Thankfully the doors slide open.

“Welcome, darling. That’s quite a stack.” The woman at the front desk greets him.

Darling. He’s never had anyone call him that in his life.

“Yeah. Where’s the dropbox?”

“It’s right around the corner there, but you can just give them to me.” She points out the door and to the right, and lo and behold, a sliding return dropbox is just outside the door.

Ugh.

“Thanks,” Ryan says as the woman starts taking the books off the stack one by one and checking them back in with her scanner, placing them on a sliding cart next to her.

“Did you enjoy all these books?”

Well, guess he’ll find out if he’s going to jail.

“I, I-uh, my roommate. Reads a lot. I’m just returning them for him. I read one of them though.” He motions to one of the books already on the cart.

She eyes the spine and sighs, “I’d never be able to read a book like that. I don’t know how you can handle all the gore and horror.”

The woman finishes taking the books, and Ryan stretches his fingers out. “It wasn’t too bad.”

“Is that so? Well, what are you looking for next? I’m sure we have plenty of titles that are similar.”

Ryan bites the inside of his cheek, “Actually, uhm, someone who works here recommended it to me. I was wondering if maybe… he could recommend another one?”

The woman looks up in surprise. “Someone who works here? Well, I know Kate really likes that horror stuff, but…”

“It was a man named Shane?”

“Shane?”

For a moment Ryan wonders if he imagined sexy library man Shane, but then the woman smiles.

“I didn’t know Shane liked books like that. I’ve never seen him read one. He normally likes the…” she trails off, looking Ryan up and down, and then tries to suppress a small laugh. “Well, I’m sure he could tell you.”

“Is he here?”

The woman nods, “Yeah, he’s in there somewhere. Supposed to be stocking shelves, but he might’ve gotten distracted right…” she lifts her hand and points toward the Young Adult section, “... there. If you’re looking for him, you’re most likely gonna find him hidden back there.”

Ryan looks at the semi-small section, then nods at the woman and smiles. “Thank you.”

“No problem, honey. Welcome to the library.”

Ryan turns around and starts toward the YA section, a part of the library he never breached into when he was here with Steven. He doesn’t see how YA stories would appeal to him, considering they’re all about teenagers and love and quests and coming-of-age stuff he’s long since grown out of.

There are only about four shelves in total, so Shane isn’t hard to find. He’s sitting on the ground with a book in his lap and a rolling cart next to him. He’s too engrossed in the book to hear Ryan coming.

“That good?” He questions as he looks around at the different spines.

Shane jumps and slams the book closed, dropping it on the ground. He stands up quickly, already muttering an apology when he realizes who it is. “Ryan!”

“Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” Then Shane looks down. “That was a stupid question. You’re allowed to be here. You’re probably wondering why I’m here. Wait, that’s stupid too. I work here. I mean in this section, reading a book instead of working… uhm, did you like the book?”

Ryan is a bit taken aback by how nervous Shane seems to be. He didn’t exude any semblance of self-consciousness or insecurity when they spoke the other day.

“It was good. Super fucked up, just like you said.”

“Yeah,” Shane reaches down and picks up the book he dropped, studies the cover for a moment before placing it on the shelf. “I heard it got pretty gruesome pretty fast.”

“Wait, you never read it?”

“No. I don’t really like all that horror stuff.”

Ryan gasps quietly and places a hand over his chest in an exaggerated manner, “You mean to tell me you recommended me something without even knowing if it was good or not? Shame on you.”

“But… was it good?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then it all worked out.” Shane smiles, picking up another book on the cart and placing it on the shelf.

“So…” Ryan trails off, watching as Shane studies the different covers of the books he’s restocking. “I would ask you for another rec, but I’m afraid you’ll set me up with something that actually sucks because you’ve never read it.”

“Hey, I read plenty. Just… not that kind of stuff.” Shane picks up another book and even flips it over to read the synopsis on the back.

“You like Young Adult?”

Shane looks up, “I… guess so?”

Ryan shuffles his feet, “Aren’t you a bit… old for it?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, YA is about teenagers and it’s made for teenagers, right? I didn’t think you’d like stuff like that…” Ryan is trying hard not to stare at Shane’s nose piercing as he says this. “That probably sounded really hypocritical, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Most people have that mentality but, I don’t know, I guess I just like the stories more. A lot of Adult books blend together and the worlds are so uninteresting, but I feel like YA is a lot more… otherworldly. Plus, you never know what you’re going to find.”

Ryan furrows his eyebrows as he steps a bit closer, looking at the books on the shelves. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, well, if you want Romance, you go to Romance, if you want Fantasy, you go to Fantasy, if you want Science Fiction, you go to Science Fiction, ya know? But here, every genre exists. YA is considered a ‘genre’ itself because of its age group, but you can find pretty much everything under this one section! Like, look, see?” He picks up two random books off the shelf. “This is an Urban Fantasy, and this is a Contemporary. And right here, a Science Fiction, and then a Mystery, and then…” He trails off as his eyes land on another book, “coming-of-age, or… something.”

“Have you read all these books?”

“Not all of them, but… some of them… that appeal to me.”

“Oh yeah? Got any recs, then?”

Shane looks up from the books he’s holding, “I thought you didn’t like YA?”

Ryan smirks slightly, “I’m down for trying new things.”

Shane blushes as he places the books back in their rightful places.

“So?” Ryan asks again after a few moments have passed. “Maybe try to keep it in the same vein as horror and stuff, ya know?”

“How do you feel about ghosts?”

_-_-_

Later on that day, Ryan is walking out of the library with almost as many books as he walked in with. Shane seemed to recommend him every single YA book he knew about that had at least some semblance of horror or mystery in it. There were a few series, some of which he could only get the first book for, but Shane promised to put the rest of the books on hold for him. Ryan tried to tell him that he wasn’t a very fast reader, but Shane just shook his head and said he managed to read the other book so quickly, he shouldn’t have any trouble with these.

Ryan highly doubted that. Some of these books were huge.

One series, in particular, had to be over two-thousand pages combined.

When Ryan returns back to his and Steven’s apartment, Steven is in his room with the door open. He greets Ryan in the living room and watches as he struggles with all the books.

“You could’ve helped.”

“But you did so well on your own, I didn’t want to mess with your groove.”

Ryan glares at him. “Dick.”

Steven laughs, “Since when did you like reading so much? Wait, let me guess; when he found out the librarian was hot as fuck.”

“No.”

“Yes. Admit it. Shane’s hot.”

“He is, but that’s not the point.”

Steven shakes his head, “Then why do you have all these YA books? Shane reads YA all the time, so he probably reced them to you.”

“How do you know they’re YA?”

Steven points to the spines of the books, where they’re labeled with the genre and the letter ‘T’.

“Fine. Shane reced them to me.”

“Knew it.” Steven snickered and picked up one of the books. “Hey, I know this one. It’s got like ghosts and psychics and stuff.”

“Yeah, he said that.”

“It’s a fantasy. Didn’t think you’d like that kind of stuff.” Steven points out, placing the book back onto a stack with the second book in the series, though Ryan knows he’s missing two more.

“Eh.”

Steven rolls his eyes, “Or maybe you will because Shane the hot librarian reced it and might dick you down if you end up liking it.”

It takes every fiber of Ryan’s being not to pick up one of the books and throw it at Steven, and Steven must be able to tell because he bounds into his room at top speed, laughing as Ryan’s choked, “Shut up!”

_-_-_

Ryan didn’t touch any of the books for three days because he didn’t know where to start. Even though the synopses of some of the books seemed bland to him, he recalled everything Shane said about each and every one of them, and couldn’t choose which one he wanted to start with first. The smaller books looked the most manageable, but the series seemed to spark the most joy when Shane spoke about them.

Finally, after contemplating between the long series or a short two-hundred-page book for an hour, he finally cracked the purple cover of the first book in the series.

And then he didn’t stop reading for two weeks straight. He went from book to book to book, getting sucked into the storylines and the worlds and the characters. Right as he finished the second book in the series he wasn’t able to get all the books for, Steven came home with the other two, winking at him as he placed the green and blue covered books on the table.

“Don’t worry, Shane wasn’t working today, so you didn’t miss him,” Steven commented, winking at Ryan when he scowls at him. “But, you should know Shane’s piercing appointment is in three days.”

Ryan speed read the last two books in the series without running the risk of not understanding what happened and returned to the library with his stack of books four days later. He was able to find the dropbox this time, but he went in afterward anyway. A different woman was at the front desk and she just smiled at him as he walked past her, heading right for the YA section.

Shane was sitting on the floor again, holding a book in his hands. He looks up when Ryan approaches and smiles as he stands.

Ryan studies his face for any new piercings. Nothing seems to have changed. The nose ring is still as stunning as ever, and the industrial bar has been replaced with a new one, but everything else is the same. Ryan wonders if Steven got the date wrong.

“Welcome, Ryan. Did you enjoy your books?”

Ryan is nearly jumping with excitement as he tells him all about how much he loved nearly all of Shane’s book recs.

“It’s weird, I didn’t think I’d like the dream shit because like, what the fuck, but it was so interesting and I loved how the magic system worked and, goddamn it, I can’t believe Noah--”

“I know! And what if I told you there’s a spinoff?”

Ryan actually does jump up and down this time, “If I wasn’t in a library right now…”

“I think I actually did scream when I read it for the first time. Misha was so mad at me.”

Ryan laughs as Shane glances around the wall to look at the woman at the front desk, smiling and waving slightly.

“Hey, do you have anything else going on today?”

“What?” Ryan steps back into the aisle.

“I get off work in an hour, so I have some stuff to do before that, but once I get off maybe we could go back to mine? We can talk more there.”

Ryan nods, “Yeah, I’m not doing anything. I’ll just chill here until then?”

“Great!”

_-_-_

Over the course of the next hour, Ryan sat down at one of the tables and started reading the spinoff book Shane told him about. The vibes in the book are already different from the original series, but that’s not a bad thing.

After finishing a few chapters, he closes the book after dogearing his page and sits back to think.

All the books Shane recommended him were different and unique in their own way, and Ryan really had no idea how extensive YA was. Whenever he thought of YA titles, he thought of the supremely popular and overtly similar storylines in all of them, and wonders if that might’ve been what turned him away from the genre years ago. There’s nothing wrong with a non-teenager reading a story about teenagers, as long as the story is interesting.

There seemed to be something in common with pretty much all the titles Shane recommended him, though. He thought about it a few days ago after thinking about a lot of his favorite characters in all the books he’s read, he realized that in every book, no matter how minute their character was or how important they were to the story, there was always at least one LGBTQ+ character.

Ryan had never read a book with LGBTQ+ characters before. He’d never even heard of any, and if he has, Shane didn’t recommend those titles.

He wonders why that is.

Right as Ryan opens the book again to a new chapter, Shane approaches him. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Ryan nods and shoves the book under his arm and follows Shane out. “I guess we can leave my car here and take yours.”

“Nah, I walk to work, plus, you can’t keep your car in this lot after hours. Don’t want you to get towed.”

“Ah. So I guess just… tell me where to go.”

“Sure,” They get into the car together and Ryan places his book on the floor in the back, and Shane buckles himself in. “it’s literally right about the corner.”

Shane wasn’t lying. Ryan is pulling up outside a small apartment complex within five minutes, and Shane waves his key in front of the gate to let them in. Shane directs him to the back of the lot and motions his head up to the third floor. They both get out of the car and start heading up to Shane’s apartment, and Ryan waits as Shane unlocks the door. Shane motions him inside.

As soon as he steps across the threshold, he’s turned around and pushed into the wall. Before he can even react, Shane’s lips are on his and he’s taken aback by the cold sensation on Shane’s tongue.

How did he never realize Shane had a tongue piercing?

“Is that the one you got yesterday?” Ryan asks when Shane pulls back slightly, kicking the door closed behind him and slamming his hand against the wall to turn on the light switch.

“Nope.” Shane teases and sticks his tongue out slightly, letting Ryan admire the silver ball for a moment before curling his lips around it and meeting Ryan’s again. “You’ll see it soon.”

Ryan nods slightly and allows himself to be pushed back into the wall. His mind is reeling at the sudden outburst, but he is in no way complaining. He can feel the hoop in Shane’s nose press up against his own, the metal causing a chill to rush down his spine. Shane’s hips buck forward and lock Ryan between himself and the wall.

They continue kissing for a few moments, and Ryan is finally able to bring his fingers up to run through Shane’s hair and against the piercings in his ears, pushing the hair back until Shane’s own hands come up and lock Ryan’s against the wall as well.

“Didn’t realize you liked them so much.” Shane chuckles slightly and backs off a bit so Ryan can stand on his feet normally. He didn’t even realize he was brought to his tiptoes as he was kissing Shane.

“How could you not have realized? I stare at them… all the time.” Ryan stutters out between gasped breaths.

“Most people do. I can never tell if it’s because they like them or hate them.”

“I like them. Very much.”

Shane bites the corner of his lip. “I’m glad.” Then he leads Ryan over to the couch allowing him to sit on his own before pushing him over into the couch. “Is this okay?”

“Yes.”

Shane blinks. “Are you sure?”

Ryan takes an extra moment just to make it seem like he’s thinking about it. “Yes. I’m sure.”

“Tell me to stop if I make you uncomfortable.”

“Sure.”

Shane’s lips return to his and Ryan slightly takes the lead for a moment since whatever coerced Shane to push him and hold him against the wall has seemingly passed. The nervousness Ryan witnessed a few weeks ago has seemingly returned, but he’s not having it. He takes Shane’s hands and puts his own above his head, motioning for Shane to hold him down again.

Shane sits up on his lap, but Ryan doesn’t feel crushed or confined in any way. He’d rather be here than anywhere.

“The last person I was with got weirded out by… my piercings.”

“Why?”

Shane looks down for a moment, whispers, “You’ll see,” and then unbuttons his shirt.

Every time Ryan has seen him, he’s been wearing long sleeves, so when Shane peels his shirt back to reveal not just one, but countless tattoos littering his upper body and arms, Ryan’s breathing stops for a solid twenty seconds before he feels his throat constrict. He eyes the black and dark blue ink as it swirls around words and designs. He can’t make out what most of the designs are supposed to be before Shane leans down and kisses him again.

They kiss for a few silent moments before Shane sits up again. Ryan groans. “Why do you keep stopping?”

Shane raises his eyebrows. “This doesn’t bother you?”

“Why would it?”

“Some people don’t like tattoos.”

Ryan huffs. “I do. I really do. Now would you please--”

“I’m serious. Some people act like they’re fine with it but they’re not and it sucks, so I want you to be honest.”

Ryan sighs and sits up, and Shane slides off his lap and sits next to him. “I guess it’s… surprising. I didn’t think you’d have tattoos and piercings, but I think they’re fine. They look good on you.” When Shane doesn’t say anything, Ryan reaches out a hand and places it on Shane’s arm. “They must’ve hurt.”

“Not all of them. It’s a good kind of pain, though. Same with the piercings. They hurt for a while, but it feels nice sometimes.”

Ryan bites the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. “I can’t believe I attracted a masochist.”

Shane doesn’t deny it and then looks down at his chest. “Some people would get grossed out by all the tattoos and piercings.” He flicks at his arm.

“Well, I’m not grossed out. I’m still very much attracted to you.” Ryan says as he lays back down on the couch. “Now…”

Shane chuckles and presses him down again, “Good to know.”

They continue kissing for a few more minutes, Ryan running his hands up and down Shane’s chest and arms. Even though he can’t see the tattoos, he swears he can feel the phantom outlines of them and wants to trace them with his fingertips. He runs his fingers down Shane’s chest and to the waistband of his pants and begins to unbutton them.

Ryan can feel Shane pull away slightly as he wriggles out of his jeans, kicking them off. By now, Shane is down to his underwear, and Ryan is still fully clothed. He makes for his own shirt, pulling it over his head.

He freezes once he gets it off. Shane has shed his last bit of clothing.

“I-is that the new one?” He stutters. Shane bites his lip and looks down at himself.

“Yeah.”

“Wouldn’t it hurt to…” Ryan trails off, but he can’t help himself as he reaches forward and wraps his fingers around Shane’s length, stoking it for a moment, running his fingers over the head where another ringed piece of silver metal protrudes from the foreskin.

“Maybe a little.”

“Shane...”

“It won’t be too bad. I actually got it piercing years ago but I took it out because all my sex partners thought it was weird, so all they really did was put a new piece in.” He looks back up at Ryan. “Of course, we don’t have to if you don’t want--”

Ryan cuts him off by pulling him down into another hard kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the lack of explicit smut.


End file.
